China's Huawei Technologies Aspires to Become a Consumer Brand Name

From a humble beginning in late eighties to a multibillion dollar equipment supplier to phone carriers in 2010, China’s Huawei (News - Alert) Technologies has seen remarkable growth in a little over two decades. Supplying telecom equipment to carriers across Asia, Africa and Europe, the company reported $28 billion in sales last year. And today it employs some 110,000 people worldwide.

In a recent interview with AP Business reporter Joe McDonald, which was posted on ABC News/Technology site, Huawei’s vice president Song Liuping expressed interest in moving into consumer markets dominated by giants like Apple Inc. and Cisco (News - Alert) Systems. In reality, according to Liuping, Huawei is aspiring to become a consumer brand name.

In fact, the Chinese telecom equipment supplier has already taken initial steps in that direction. According to McDonald, with a global network of 20 R&D labs from Moscow to Silicon Valley, the company has started marketing its own mobile phones and tablet computers in the United States.

In this interview, Liuping said, “The consumer market, and especially the mid-range, is something we certainly will get into with our own brand.”

In his report, McDonald labels Huawei as a leader of an emerging group of Chinese companies that are creating brand-name technology in fields from telecom to clean energy to medical equipment. And these Chinese companies are now ready to go head on with well known Western players.

Professor Oded Shenkar, Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business, who specializes in Chinese companies, told McDonald that Chinese companies are climbing the technology ladder faster than Japan and South Korea did in past decades. “In 10 to 15 years, China could be where South Korea is now, as far as having a number of global champions,” Shenkar told the AP Business reporter.

According to this report, the emerging Chinese technology companies are taking advantage of both low-cost Chinese pool of engineers and scientists and support from a communist government that is working hard to transform this nation.

Founded in Shenzhen in 1987 as a sales representative for a Hong Kong company producing PBX (News - Alert) switches, Huawei today provides telecom solutions to major carriers around the world. It competes with names like Nokia Siemens Networks, Cisco, Ericsson AB and Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) SA.

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